Short answer: yes. But not for the reason most photographers will give you.
Most will tell you it’s for the photos. The save the dates, the wedding website header, the framed print above your fireplace someday. And those things are real — the photos matter and you’ll use them.
But that’s not actually why I believe in engagement sessions so deeply.
I believe in them because of what happens on your wedding day when you’ve had one — and what’s quietly missing when you haven’t.
What an engagement session actually does for your wedding day
Your wedding day moves faster than you think it will. Everyone who’s ever been married says this, and nobody fully believes it until they’re standing at the end of the night wondering where the afternoon went.
The last thing you want to spend that day doing is figuring out how to work with your photographer.
An engagement session is where we build the foundation before any of that pressure exists. I get to learn your mannerisms — the way you look at each other, the way you carry your love together, the small physical habits that make you uniquely you. You get to learn how I work: how I direct, how I move you through a pose without always needing words, when to follow my lead and when to just forget I’m there.
By the time your wedding day arrives, we already have a shorthand. You’re not thinking about the camera. You’re not wondering what to do with your hands. You’re just celebrating — and I’m right there catching all of it.
That ease doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built. And an engagement session is where we build it.
You’ll arrive on your wedding day with proof
Here’s something I love about engagement sessions that doesn’t get talked about enough.
After we shoot, I deliver your gallery. And you get to see — for the first time, in real images of yourselves — exactly what it looks like when you trust the process. The angles that felt strange in the moment. The pose that seemed too much. The direction that made no sense until you saw the screen.
That gallery becomes your evidence. Your proof that it works. So when I show up on your wedding day and ask you to do something that feels a little uncomfortable or unconventional, you already know what’s coming. You’ve seen what it translates into. You say yes without hesitation — because you’ve already seen how cool you can look and you know exactly what it took to get there.
Confidence on a wedding day isn’t something you manufacture. It’s something you earn in the sessions that come before it.
It’s also just a really good excuse to stop planning for a few hours
Wedding planning is a lot. The venues and the vendors and the timelines and the guest lists and the seating charts and the family dynamics and the budget spreadsheets. At some point in the middle of all of it, it’s easy to lose sight of the whole reason you’re doing any of it.
An engagement session is your permission slip to put all of that down for an afternoon and just be two people who are in love.
Be a little flirty. Be a little creative. Be silly if that’s who you are, or be serious and still and completely yourselves if that’s more your speed. The session is yours — and one of the things I love most about it is watching couples remember, somewhere in the middle of it, that this is actually fun. That the whole point is to appreciate each other. That the photos are just a beautiful byproduct of that.
Some of my favorite moments from engagement sessions aren’t even the posed frames. They’re the exhale. The laugh that comes out of nowhere. The moment they stop thinking about being photographed and just look at each other. That’s the whole thing right there.
The right session looks different for every couple — and that’s the point
I had a couple come to me once who thought they wanted a golden hour session in a park. Beautiful idea. Soft light, green surroundings, very classic. And it would have been lovely.
But as I got to know them — their energy, their plans, the fact that they were eloping in Vegas — something felt off about a park at golden hour. It was a beautiful session for a different couple. Not for them.
So I made a different suggestion. A night shoot through the streets of downtown St. Augustine. Ambient light and flash. Moody, creative, a little edgy. The kind of session that has character and sexiness and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
They were a little surprised. And then they were completely in.
They had so much fun just being themselves in front of my camera. No golden hour park would have given them that — because it wasn’t them. The best engagement session isn’t the most beautiful location. It’s the most honest one.
This is why I don’t just hand you a list of popular spots and tell you to pick one. I get to know you first. Then we figure out together where you belong.
And yes — you’ll actually use the photos too
The practical stuff is real. Save the dates. Wedding website headers. A print for your home. A gift for your parents. An album that lives on a coffee table long after the wedding is a memory.
I have a quick turnaround — a couple of weeks, not months — so if you need images for save the dates or a website, we can make that timeline work. The key is booking early enough that your session date is secured before your ideal timeframe passes. Because I limit how many sessions I take each month, dates go faster than most people expect.
If you’re wondering what to wear or where to shoot, I have resources to help with both — including a guide on what to wear for your engagement session and thoughts on choosing the right location.
What if an engagement session just isn’t possible?
Sometimes it isn’t. Destination couples, tight timelines, budget constraints — life is real and I understand that. I’ve traveled to couples and photographed weddings for people I’d never met in person before the day. It can absolutely work.
But I’ll always advocate for finding a way. Even a shorter session. Even something simple. Because the couples I’ve shot engagement sessions with always arrive on their wedding day with a different energy than those I’m meeting for the first time. More relaxed. More trusting. More ready to just be present.
That difference shows up in every single frame.
Ready to book yours?
If you’re getting married and wondering whether an engagement session is worth it — I hope this answered that. Not because I’m trying to sell you something, but because after twenty years of watching what happens when couples come to their wedding day having already built that trust with me, I can’t imagine encouraging anything else.
Take a look at my portraits page to get a feel for my approach, and when you’re ready to talk about your session, reach out here. I’d love to hear your story.
Keep reading
→ How to Feel Comfortable in Front of the Camera (Even If You Think You’re Awkward)
→ Why I Pose My Couples (And Why That’s Not a Bad Thing)
→ What to Wear for Engagement Photos- Outfit Ideas for Couples.
+ view the comments
